OSSINING – The owner of a historic pill factory in the village began demolishing the landmarked structure Tuesday morning.

A wrecking crew hired by Plateau Associates destroyed the entire facade of the former Brandreth Pill Factory, a 35,000-square-foot building at 36 N. Water Street that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Village Manager Christina Papes said the owners didn't have a valid demolition permit and they had not received permission from the villages historic preservation commission, which oversees locally landmarked buidlings.

"I don't know if anything can be saved. It's sad," Papes said Tuesday.

"While the permit was issued in 2008, Plateau had not proceeded with the work while other plans for the site were studied," Stone wrote in an email, adding that in court hearings last month the company stated it would raze the structure. "Plateau provided two sets of documents to the Building Department to satisfy all technical requirements for proceeding with the demolition. Nothing was heard back from the Building Department, and the work proceeded today pursuant to the demolition permit."

The former pill factory was built by Dr. Benjamin Brandreth, an Englishman who manufactured his patent medicine there and distributed it throughout the world. The building's age is unclear, with some local historians citing 1850-51 and others 1872.

Many of the original buildings were destroyed in a fire in the 1870s but the oldest, a Greek Revival building, remained. It was placed on the National Register in 1980.

In recent years the Stolatis family tried to redevelop the 8-acre property and build 137 luxury apartments, but the plan did not advance through the local approval process.